Episcopal Diocese Begins Convention Friday In Reading

June 11, 1998|The Morning Call

Some 300 Episcopalians from eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania will gather in Reading on Friday and Saturday for the annual Convention of the Diocese of Bethlehem.

Clergy and lay delegates from 68 congregations will celebrate Eucharist, hear an address and a sermon by Bethlehem Bishop Paul V. Marshall and discuss the 1999 vision and mission of the diocesan community as well as the $1.3 million proposed diocesan budget.

Everything but the convention Eucharist will take place at the Inn at Reading. The Eucharist, to which the public is invited, will be celebrated at 9 a.m. Saturday at Christ Church, 5th and Court streets.

Marshall will deliver his address during the Friday business session, which runs 1-3 p.m., and preach at the Saturday morning Eucharist.

This will be the first convention since the adoption of new mission and vision statements and funding strategies to guide diocesan ministries.

Budget requests for 1999 were submitted and considered in the light of those statements:

* Mission statement: "Live God's love. Tell what you have seen and heard."

* Vision statement: "We seek to create communities of faith where all God's people can deepen their relationship with Jesus. We seek so to live that the Holy Spirit might use us to draw others to Christ. We seek to welcome others to the fellowship of God's church. This vision will lead us... To live lives of prayer, service and compassion as we work to build a world of justice and peace.

"To proclaim the importance of our life together in Christ. To be open to change as the Holy Spirit prompts us. To celebrate our Anglican identity."

The Diocese of Bethlehem includes some 18,000 members in a 14-county area. It is among 120 dioceses of the Episcopal Church, U.S.A.